Lex had no intention of bringing his force to a field of battle where a charge like that would be possible, not any time soon at least. He was no knight or battle commander, so he would use the skills he did possess. Even now, his plans for King Ercanbald were coming to their fruition while Gabirel stood besieged inside the Dazhberg. By the time his army came together from across the land, his opponents would be scattered and toothless.
Already, the Wizards of Uriasz were but a shadow of their former strength. Fools that they were they had hobbled themselves, locking away the source of their power. The Usurper, as he thought of Arch-mage Philon, was old and dying. Wasting away the very years he should have been doing his greatest works.
Following that final defeat here at the Cinaeth, Sterling Lex had fled across the sea to the barbarian lands. For a decade he had wallowed in the loss inflicted upon him by the Ban. Then, one day he found a manuscript in the market of one of the slave centers. It spoke of the old magic. Magic from before the order of wizards had been founded at Cale Uriasz. From before the system of Arch-mages had been established.
That manuscript showed him a way to defeat the Ban. To reclaim the power he had once known. It had shown him power that those wizards never dreamed of. So he studied. He learned the secret to slow his aging almost to a halt, necessary to complete his studies.
Eventually he saw the way to ultimate power through combining the practices of Uriasz with the old magic he had resurrected. The way to take back all that had been stolen became clear. Divination had shown him that the time was ripe and the omens directed his path. He would become the Arch-mage. He had directed Gerlach Pwyll to steal the Sunstone in his first gambit and misdirection. Their immediate focus would now be on the Krenon and the Moonstone, rather than on his true purpose.
High above, the sun shone down on the valley, bringing light, but little warmth. He judged that the time was right and signaled to the three hooded figures standing away to come near.
“My friends,” he said in a silken voice. “The time for our victory, and our revenge draws near. Even now the Krenon lay siege to the Dazhberg. They believe their cause righteous to bring the wizards and their allies to justice. In that they only aid our cause. What you do not know is that I have received word that the Sunstone has now returned to the fortress.”
There was a murmuring of consternation at that news amongst the dark wizards. Allowing it to go on for a moment, he raised a hand to silence them. “Do not be concerned. Their defenses are weakened and the Krenon will succeed in their quest to take the Dazhberg. While they are distracted you, Radomil, and you, Tapani, will infiltrate the keep. You know what you seek there. On your way!” Two of the figures turned toward each other, nodded, and shimmered into the aether.
“Witek, back to the north with you. Continue your work there. That field must be prepared and the right seeds sown. I will signal when it is time to bring the stone to me.” The third figure, standing only half as high as the others, bowed slightly and followed his compatriots.
When the last of the dark wizards had departed, Sterling Lex turned back toward the valley. It would be so. How fitting that this place would become his power base. The fool Gerlach Pwyll had served his purpose and, in removing the Sunstone, given the Krenon hope that they would at last defeat Gabirel. He should have been able to defeat the boy, Cenric, handily, and indeed by all accounts had done so. It was the other one that was the mystery. Who was this Sebastian Headley? He wondered. What role would he play in all of this? Not knowing and not having foreseen Sebastian’s interference disturbed the dark wizard. He resolved to learn more about Sebastian, and should he become a nuisance remove him from the playing field.
#
Coming to the Dazhberg, Sebastian thought he would be finding a new home. Instead he felt more under a microscope than ever. Not admitted as a squire in training, he had no real place and was not allowed to begin training with the other recruits. The High Lord Eoghan was his titular overseer, but as a member of the High Council he had little time to devote to mentoring one he saw as a problem to be solved. In contrast, the wizards had taken Cenric under their direct tutelage, leaving him little time to build the growing friendship between the two young men. Walking through the halls, he periodically felt questioning eyes wondering about him. He missed Adelwolf.
Upon their return, the rumors had spread fast through the keep. The famed warrior, Quiren Adelwolf, had been killed retrieving the Eligius Siothrun from Cinaeth, and Sebastian had subsequently killed both Gerlach Pwyll and Heinrick Tornike. Those acts stained him with the color of dishonor, never mind the circumstances or how much evil the two men had done. On top of it all, they had brought the news that Sterling Lex, who had not been heard from since the Ban was enacted at the end of the Dragon Wars, had indeed returned.
Worse was his own knowledge that he had not defeated Pwyll and Tornike through any skill with a blade, but rather through the use of magic. Magic he did not want nor understand. He felt that his very soul was stained and there was no one he could speak to about it. The Ban was all he had ever known. He felt more akin to the Krenon, sitting outside the fortress and waiting for their opportunity, than he did to anyone here inside the Dazhberg. He could talk with Cenric, but the boy was busy training with the wizards, and Sebastian wanted no part of that.
Krystelle Mora told him to keep silent about his use of magic until she had a chance to speak with her father. Easy enough. He did not want to speak about it to anyone. Not really. In the three days since their arrival he had seen the woman but once, and that from a distance. She had never seemed to think much of him in their journey to Cinaeth and then to the Dazhberg, but she was one of the few people Sebastian knew in the keep and the only one who knew the full story of what had happened that night. Once Cenric had regained consciousness, Krystelle and he had made an unspoken agreement not to speak of that night in front of him. He did not need to know and Sebastian was not quite sure they could trust him not to start babbling about it all. The boy had very little in the way of restraint or discretion once he got to talking.
Every time he closed his eyes, Sebastian relived the events of that night. He saw Tornike fall, and then Pwyll. But that was not the worst of it. The memory of the Krenon attacking Krystelle and his rage bubbling up inside, incinerating them through the power of the Sunstone haunted Sebastian. He seldom got past that moment in his memory to the bright light that came moments later when the Sunstone brought Krystelle Mora back from the grave. He wanted his focus to be there in that moment, but he could not find it.
A conversation with Krystelle Mora, or at least recognition, would have been appreciated. It was a surprise when she called out to him as he was making his way to the dining hall on that third day. “Sebastian! There you are. I have been looking everywhere for you.” She hurried up to where he had stopped in mid-stride and continued, not giving him an opportunity to respond. “Come with me. We have been summoned to the Aodhan Bret to appear before the council.”
Grabbing his arm, she half-dragged him back the way they had come. Questions whirled about in his mind. Why were they being summoned before the Council now? He started to form the question, but she glared at him, cutting him off. Within a few moments they arrived outside the Aodhan Bret where two guards stood vigil on either side of the massive door. They stood, impassively, as Krystelle Mora led Sebastian into the chamber.
#
Entering into the Aodhan Bret, Sebastian saw the Sunstone sitting in its alcove to the east. The entire sitting council was present. Lord Eoghan, resplendent in an ermine robe next to the taciturn Lord Marcello. Across from them, the balding High Councilor Damianus conferred with Krystelle’s father, Dimitri Mora, and the ancient Arch-mage Philon. Cenric was already present, hunched down in his chair, trying not to be noticed.
Damianus beckoned Krystelle and Sebastian over to their seats and called the council to order. “Now that all are here it is time to deal with the rest of Krystelle Mora’s news. Ster
ling Lex has returned. He was behind Gerlach Pwyll’s theft of the Sunstone from this very chamber. The time for debate on that point is over.”
“Returned, but not restored to his full strength or he would not have sent Gerlach Pwyll,” said Egilhard Teoma, Lord Commander of the Knights of Gabirel.
The High Councilor nodded his agreement, “Indeed. And now the rest of the story has come to light. Much was kept from us about that night. Dimitri?”
Krystelle Mora’s father rose to address the council. He had the same auburn hair as his daughter, gray streaks on both temples combined with an aquiline nose giving him the appearance of an eagle in flight. He wore a black velvet cloak embroidered with a silver falcon on the chest, just as he had the last time Sebastian saw him in council. “My Lords, there is indeed more to the story of that night at Cinaeth than was revealed previously to this council. It was withheld not from any intent to deceive, but out of an abundance of caution. Immediately after the council adjourned these three days ago my daughter came to me and told me the rest of what occurred that night, earnestly seeking my counsel. The counsel of her father and a member of this body. Upon hearing her story, I took her to the Arch-mage Philon and had her repeat her tale to him.”
Damianus scowled, slamming a hand upon the table, “Dimitri, if there is more to the story we should have been informed immediately. These times are too perilous for secrets. Not here. That can only bring division! Three days could mean the death of us all.”
Arch-mage Philon leaned forward and pinned Damianus to his seat with his gaze. “My friend, it was I who asked for the delay. If there is fault in that, it rests with me. I believe you will understand my reasoning once you have heard the full tale.”
Glowering, Damianus returned to his high-backed chair, “Very well. I will withhold my condemnation…for now. Continue Dimitri.”
“I will ask my daughter to recount the tale as she told me.”
She stood, laying a comforting hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. He did not like where this was going, but could see no way out of it now as Krystelle Mora began speaking, “You will recall that after Cenric confronted Gerlach Pwyll I told you that Sebastian attacked with his sword and killed him.” The various council members nodded. “That is true; however, it is not all that happened. You see, Gerlach Pwyll was not weakened as far as I made it seem. He attacked Sebastian with his magic. However; after Cenric fell, the Sunstone slipped from his grasp and was retrieved by Sebastian. When Gerlach Pwyll attacked, Sebastian was holding the Sunstone. Somehow in that moment the power of the Stone came to life and defended him. Defended us all. It was the power of the sword combined with the Stone that ended the life of Gerlach Pwyll.”
Sebastian could not look at any of them, but he could feel every eye locked upon him. Even Cenric’s. He felt like he carried some kind of horrible disease or worse, that he was the disease and they were all looking for a way to eradicate it…him.
Stunned, Damianus clenched both fists. “Are you telling us this boy, with no training, harnessed the Sunstone’s power to kill? I would not have thought it possible. Arch-mage, how can this be?”
The old wizard chuckled, “So many mysteries in this world and this is but one. A boy from the edge of nowhere taps into the Eligius entrusted to Gabriel at the Ban. How can this be?”
“No riddles,” said Damianus. “Speak plainly wizard.”
“Yes,” agreed Eoghan, “What is it you know? And why was this kept from us?”
If anything, Philon’s laugh deepened, “Patience, my friends. For, you see, there is more to the story. Continue Krystelle Mora. Tell them the rest.”
Krystelle Mora took a deep breath and resumed her story, “After Gerlach Pwyll fell, we believed we were clear. But it was not to be. Almost immediately we were set upon by three Krenon.” Krystelle paused to let that news sink in, resuming before the inevitable questions could begin. They would all have a lot more before she was done. “In my pride, I thought I could stop all three of them myself. I was humbled, severely. They struck with the black smoke and I fell. Once more, the Sunstone came to Sebastian’s aide, allowing him to kill one. In turn that caused the others to flee.”
Once more, all eyes were on Sebastian. There was nowhere for him to hide, and he found himself wishing that he really did have magic so he could make himself disappear. Teoma spoke first, “The boy killed a Krenon…on his own.”
“He did, and yet there is still more.”
“More?” said Eoghan. “Is this not enough?”
Arch-mage Philon gave her a reassuring smile, “Tell them the rest child.”
Even with his admonition, she sat a moment longer as the silence grew in the chamber. At last, she resumed almost in a whisper, “After the they fled, Sebastian came to check on me. I had died. For a third and final time he summoned the power of the Stone. This time, to restore my life.”
The silence in the room was palpable. To Sebastian, it was an eternity before the council erupted in shouting. It went on for several moments before Dimitri Mora brought them back to order, “My Lords! Remember yourselves.”
Lord Eoghan spoke first, “Such strength. I would not have thought he had it in him.”
“He has more strength in him than you know, and he was aided by the power of the Sunstone,” said Krystelle. Those words warmed Sebastian’s heart.
“We know his strength, daughter. It is the source of that strength which concerns us.” Krystelle looked at her father quizzically.
“My lords,” said the old Arch-mage in a tremulous voice, “I trust that you now understand why I asked Dimitri and Krystelle to hold their counsel these three days. I have given much thought to these events and believe I understand what the import must be. Consider the source of Gerlach Pwyll’s magic before ever he could have encountered Sterling Lex. You know whence it came and its import. You know why he would try to claim the Sunstone for his own. Now consider further what it must mean that this boy…no…young man, can summon the power of the Stone. It can but mean one thing.”
One by one, each of the assembled Lords nodded their agreement, leaving Sebastian to wonder what that thing could possibly be. Before he could summon the courage to ask, the Arch-mage continued , “You all know what must be done. The power of the Mages of Uriasz must be restored. We must return all five of the Eligius stones to the Aodhan Bret.”
Once again, the council chamber erupted in a storm of argument. Dimitri’s voice rose above them all. “MY LORDS.” The chamber fell silent. “You know the wisdom the Arch-mage has brought to this table through the decades. He has given his entire being to the protection of the realm. We must consider his words with care.”
“The tenets of the Ban were established for good reason,” said Damianus. “Would we so glibly cast them aside? Gabirel is strong and we have the wisdom of Uriasz rather than the danger lying within their use of forbidden magic. The Restoration is a measure of last resort. Is the hour so dark? I say that it is not!”
“Gabirel is strong,” said Philon, “I do not dispute that. But does Sterling Lex respect the Ban as we do? I fear the source of his strength.”
“Many times you have argued for the Restoration, and many times the threat proved to be less than we imagined. Perhaps the same is true once again,” said Damianus. “Or perhaps you simply lust for the return of the power you once held.”
“My Lord Damianus!”
“Rest easy Dimitri,” said Philon, settling back into his stone chair. “This council has ever been a place for open debate and it is Lord Damianus’ right to speak his mind. It is true that my heart yearns for that which was stripped from me. Yet we must face the fact of Sterling Lex’s return. We all know it was his desire to suborn the office of the Arch-mage that he thought was his right. I do not know what the answer is, but I would hear from the Lord Commander. Can Gabirel stand should Sterling Lex attack? Can it even withstand the Krenon crouching at our gates?”
“Gabirel IS strong,” said Teoma. “The Sunstone is t
ied to the strength of the Dazhberg, and its return gives us hope. But this is a place of defense. What good if we become a mere island, surrounded by a sea of evil and oppression? Shall we allow Sterling Lex reign over the countryside whilst we sit in our tower of stone?”
“It is worse than any of you realize,” said the Arch-mage, “even with the return of the Sunstone, the Dazhberg must ultimately fail. With each passing day the Krenon drain the fortress’ defenses. I do all that I can to bolster the wards that were put in place to protect her with the Ban. It is a sap and a drain on my own strength. There is only so much longer that I can maintain it.”
“What do you propose, then?” said Dmitri.
“If we are not to gather all five stones, then we take the next step. We bring the Eligius Ealadha home to the Aodhan Bret.”
Philon nodded. “That would be a reasonable next step. Of all the Eligium it is the most accessible to us and would provide a good counter to the Krenon. The Sunstone brings with it the hope of dawn, but the Moonstone provides light in the darkest night.”
Eoghan shook his head, “Very poetic, but I don’t see how that helps us.”
“Just because it’s poetry does not make it untrue,” said Philon. “Gabirel was given charge of the Sunstone that it would strengthen you for the task of guarding over the kingdom. The Moonstone has a kind of magic that brings rejuvenation and a setting of things right. That is a magic we can use right now.”
“The Moonstone…” said Damianus. “But who to send? We all know the restrictions.”
“There are several candidates within the guard,” said Teoma.
Dmitri shook his head, “None of them are certain nor can their claims be established. We must be certain. You know our options.” He glanced to where Krystelle and the two boys stood listening to the debate. Sebastian felt like he was missing something important; as if he only had part of the story.
Eligium- The Complete Series Page 10